Weight-preoccupation, personality and depression in university students : an interactionist perspective

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Abstract

The present research was designed to examine Beck's (1983; 1987)
cognitive diathesis-stress model of depression in a new context. Specifically, this
cross-sectional study investigated whether Beck's cognitive-personality traits of
sociotropy and autonomy interacted with a specific daily hassle/stressor, weightpreoccupation,
in the prediction of depressed mood in women and men. Weightpreoccupation
was chosen as the particular daily stressor, because, according to
Kanner, Coyne, Schaeffer, and Lazarus (1981). concern about weight and physical
appearance were two of the most troublesome daily hassles among university
students. ContraIy to current stereotypes, men also express concerns with weight
and appearance (Cash, Winstead, &, landi, 1986), in both the direction of weight
loss and weight/muscle gain (Drewnowski &, Yee, 1987). Thus, unique to this
study was the examination of weight-preoccupation in men, not only in the
direction of weight loss, but also in the direction of weight and muscle gain. Two
hundred and fifty-one undergraduates were administered the revised SociotropyAutonomy
Scale (SAS), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDij, the Hassles and
Uplifts Scale, the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI), and the Restraint Scale (RS).
Through a process of model building, a final model was devised in which
depression (ie., BDI total scores) was regressed on personality (Le., SAS
Sociotropy) and weight-preoccupation (i.e., Drive for Thinness, Body
Dissatisfaction, and the Restraint Scale). Separate hierarchical multiple regression
analyses, with BDI as the dependent variable, were carried out for each of the
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weight-preoccupation variables. Results revealed a specific congruent interaction
between weight,..preoccupation and personality. Specifically, drive for thinness and
body dissatisfaction interacted with sociotropy to predict depressed mood in both
women and men, but the interaction between sociotropy and the Restraint Scale
was marginal. Findings suggested that weight-preoccupied women and men
experienced depressed mood to the extent that they were characterized as more
highly sociotropic. As predicted, personality (i.e., sociotropy), moderated the
relationship between daily stress (i.e., weight-preoccupation) and depression. Thus,
results revealed that the proposed diathesis-stress model seemed to operate in the
same manner for women and men. Moreover, the examination of weightpreoccupation
among men (i.e., in the direction of both weight loss and
weight/muscle gain) further revealed that, when curvilinearity was taken into
account, highly sociotropic men, who had a low desire to gain weight and muscle
mass (i.e., most likely those who desired to lose weight), experienced higher levels
of depressed mood than those who had a "medium" desire for weight and muscle
gain. However, the highest levels of depressed mood was experienced by highly
sociotropic men who were highly weight-preoccupied in the direction of wanting to
gain weight and muscle mass. In addition, possible reasons for the present
fmdings, as wen as iimitations and impiicalions for future research are discussed.